1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to input and output configurations for three-dimensional volumetric displays and, more particularly, to input configurations that allow the content of a three-dimensional volumetric display output configuration to be affected by actions by a user operating within an input configuration.
2. Description of the Related Art
A class of three-dimensional (3D) displays, called volumetric displays, is currently undergoing rapid advancement. The types of displays in this class include holographic displays, swept volume displays and static volume displays. Volumetric displays allow for three-dimensional (3D) graphical scenes to be displayed within a true 3D volume. Such displays can take many shapes including cylinders, globes, domes, cubes, an arbitrary shape, etc. with a dome being a typical shape. Because the technology of these displays is undergoing rapid development those of skill in the art are concentrating on the engineering of the display itself. As a result, the man-machine interface to or input/output configurations with which people interface with these types of displays is receiving scant attention.
While the volumetric displays allow a user to view different parts of a true 3D scene, the act of viewing the different parts typically requires that the user physically move around (or over) the display or that the display be moved or rotated in front of the user. As the display moves relative to the user, graphical objects may also move relative to the user. When the display is relatively stationary or when it is relatively moving, the user may need to interact with the display. As a result, what the user needs is an effective mechanism for interacting with the display.
It is an aspect of the present invention to provide effective mechanisms for a user to interact with content of the three-dimensional volumetric display.
It is also an aspect of the present invention to provide input and output configurations for a three-dimensional volumetric display.
It is another aspect of the present invention to provide dome, cubical and cylindrical output configurations.
It is also an aspect of the present invention to provide input configurations that allow a 3D volumetric input space to be mapped to the 3D volumetric display, a planer 2D input space to be mapped to the 3D volumetric display, a planar 2D input space to be mapped to a planar 2D space within the 3D volumetric display, and a non-planar 2D input space to be mapped to the 3D volumetric display.
The above aspects can be attained by a system that allows a number of 3D volumetric display configurations, such as dome, cubical and cylindrical volumetric display enclosures, to interact with a number of different input configurations, for example, a three-dimensional position sensing system, a planar position sensing system and a non-planar position sensing system. The user interacts with the input configurations, such as by moving a stylus on a sensing grid formed on an enclosure surface. This interaction affects the content of the volumetric display, for example, by moving a cursor within the 3D display space of the volumetric display.
These together with other aspects and advantages which will be subsequently apparent, reside in the details of construction and operation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout.